Joe_the_Gardener

Latest posts by Joe_the_Gardener

I stayed at a hotel in Trouville, near Le Havre, a few years ago. There was a parking area at the rear of the hotel with a few big plane trees. I just managed to find space in a corner of the park. About 10pm 1000+ starlings turned up to roost in the trees with much twittering before they settled, but a beautiful sight - plumage glittering in the streetlights. In the morning the hotelier was out with a bucket and sponge washing an immense amount of poo off all the cars (except mine, which wasn't under the trees).

With due regard to your profession, WillDB, I don't think that all trees are equally valuable, let alone extremely valuable. And Louise B refers to trees in the plural. I'd want to know what these trees are before commenting further on possible solutions.

In practical terms, so much depends on what species of tree it is. If it's one that will only get bigger and more damaging, then it is clearly inappropriate for the site. That should be your starting point. Trees that will make 40 feet high are clearly not wanted between the front drives of a row of suburban semis.

Last year, in about the second week in June, a customer was fairly insistent that I cut the spriggy growth on a low hedge to 'tidy it up'. She is keen on birds and insisted there were no nests in the hedge. Within a couple of minutes I found myself in a stand-off with a pair of blackbirds who disagreed. They harried me until I stopped, and by that time a few other birds had joined in; I know now how a sparrowhawk feels.

Two things stand out from this: blackbirds are among the largest garden hedge-nesting birds and they hadn't been noticed, and many other species don't make half as much fuss and so you might not realise you are disturbing them.